Entries in JJ.R. Martinez
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ABC/ADAM TAYLOR(LOS ANGELES) -- While he has been waltzing right over the competition on this season of ABC’s hit competitive dance show, “Dancing With the Stars,” J.R. Martinez hasn’t always been so confident, especially about his appearance.

When he was just 19 years old, Martinez was serving as an Army infantryman in Iraq when an IED slammed into his Humvee and exploded. Martinez was saved and flown out to Germany for treatment, but suffered severe burns on 40 percent of his body, including his face and hands.

After undergoing dozens of surgeries and therapy, the teenage Martinez was covered in scars, and struggled to deal with how the blast had altered his body – half of his face was now covered in scars.

Then in 2008, he landed a role as an Iraq war veteran on ABC’s hit soap opera, “All My Children,” where he met Diana Jones, an executive assistant on staff. In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Deborah Roberts for “Nightline,” Martinez and Jones, his long-term girlfriend, talked about their relationship.

The first time they met, Jones told Roberts that she wasn’t thrown off by Martinez’s scars.

“The minute I met him I didn’t see them,” Jones said. “I think it was I saw them on the audition tape, and then when we met it was like, I didn’t see them.”

At first, Martinez said Jones didn’t want to date him because she was afraid it would mess with their friendship and because they still worked together, but he pursued her and she eventually gave in. The two have been dating for the past two years.

“I see a hot sexy guy, I mean I’ve very attracted, he’s very attractive and I mean I love him, that’s who I see, I see a great guy and I see the man that I love,” she said.